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FISHES. 
them took as much of the roe as weighed a drachm, 
and, after having counted the eggs contained in it, 
passed it to the others, who did the same ; and as 
their numbers all agreed, they wrote down the total 
of the whole drachm ; after which, they weighed all 
the mass of eggs, and repeated eight times the sum 
of one drachm for every ounce. The addition of all 
these sums produced a total of nine millions three 
hundred and forty-four thousand eggs. 
The lives of fishes are extended to a far greater 
length than that of other animals, and it is sup- 
posed that they are less subject to diseases. Lord 
Bacon tells us that the alterations in the atmo- 
sphere, which so evidently affect the constitutions of 
mankind, make no impression on fishes, who reside 
in an element little subject to change : theirs is an 
uniform existence ; their movements are without 
effort, and their life without labour. Their bones 
also, which are united by cartilages, admit of in- 
definite extension ; and the different sizes of animals 
of the same kind among fishes are very various. They 
still keep growing ; their bodies, instead of suffering 
the rigidity of age, which is the cause of natural 
decay in land animals, still continue increasing with 
fresh supplies; and as the body grows, the conduits 
of life furnish their stores in greater abundance. 
How long a fish, that seems to have scarce any 
bounds put to its growth continues to live, is not as- 
certained ; perhaps the life of man would not be 
long enough to measure that of the smallest. 
